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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Ads

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.

    $500

    in Ads credit in the first 60 days

    Semrush

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ASemrush is a relatively popular search engine optimization tool set from the company of the same name based in Pennsylvania and founded in 2008. Largely the platforms relies on competitive intelligence, and features SEO staples like backlink checking, keyword analysis to refine SEO and PPC campaigning and locate low-cost / high-yield keywords, analysis of competitors who co-occupy desired ad and listing spaces, domain vs. domain analysis, as well as site audit and domain tracking. Semrush can…

    $139.95

    per month

    Pricing
    Google AdsSemrush
    Editions & Modules
    Offer A
    $500
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    Offer B
    $1500
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    Offer C
    $3000
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    Pro
    $139.95
    per month
    Guru
    $249.95
    per month
    Business
    $499.95
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google AdsSemrush
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details17% discount for annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google AdsSemrush
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    Chose Google Ads
    These are different channels, with different audiences and targeting options. It is important to first understand your objective, who you want to reach and at what stage of the journey.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Ads
    Google Ads can be more useful than LinkedIn & Facebook Ads because it is reaching a larger pool of users. Both platforms have even better/more targeting options, but they limit the amount of reach you will receive. Google Ads catches users at the top of the sales funnel.
    Incentivized
    Semrush
    Chose Semrush
    Frankly, once I started using Semrush and found very quick success, I had no desire or reason to try others. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! I did use some other SEO tools in the past, but it was so long ago I don't even recall the names anymore.
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    Overall, I preferred the structure and the completeness of the SEMRush tool over the competitors. Many competitors had multiple tools to log into and learn with different interfaces and looks. Love how SEMRush has everything in one place and is more intuitive then these other …
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    Very similar, but liked Semrush a little better than [Ahrefs].
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    Semrush gives you a complete overview of all the metrics that you should monitor in terms of SEO , so no need to check other tools. It makes you save a lot of time and act fast.
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    They're all really similar and perform a lot of the same functions. We use Semrush because we've had it for years and our grandfathered cost makes it more affordable than the other tools, plus we're all trained in it and ingrained in it. All of these tools are solid at older …
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    While all are good products SEMRush covers both SEO and SEM and has additional features - a good single platform and up to date.
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    I went through a number of platforms and think that Semrush offers the best combination of capabilities and tools with usability and insight.
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    SEMRush is my personal favorite SEO paid or free tool to use. I personally love the way it breaks up individual projects and allows you to work on each client's site as a whole separate from your other internal or external work. I also love how it allows quickly exported …
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    We have used a few similar products to SEMrush at different points. Generally the breadth of information in SEMrush is one of the biggest reasons to use it. If your focus is more specific on SEO Moz Pro might be a better choice. If you are exclusively focused on SEM/PPC it …
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    The ability to test almost all features for free, to learn the [long term] potential, helps to better understand what aspects of marketing tasks can help more. It also has multiple tools in various areas of SEM and SEO, something that not all tools have available.
    Incentivized
    Chose Semrush
    I can't comment on this. I've only really used SEM rush and Google AdWords. I think SEMrush is a cleaner better experience than Google AdWords in the respect I use it.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    81%
    Would buy again
    42 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    107 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    76%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    95 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    79%
    Happy with the feature set
    41 Answers
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    106 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    69%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    34 Answers
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    70%
    Implementation went as expected
    35 Answers
    99%
    Implementation went as expected
    95 Answers
    Features
    Google AdsSemrush
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Google Ads and Semrush
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.2
    11 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Semrush
    -
    Ratings
    Ad campaign creation7.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad deployment7.510 Ratings00 Ratings
    Display advertising7.410 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation7.511 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sequence targeting6.910 Ratings00 Ratings
    Contextual advertising7.210 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social advertising6.35 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Google Ads and Semrush
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.3
    11 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Semrush
    -
    Ratings
    Ad dashboards7.511 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad performance reports7.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking7.311 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting7.211 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization6.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Auctions
    Comparison of Ad Auctions features of Google Ads and Semrush
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.9
    10 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Semrush
    -
    Ratings
    Ad bidding7.910 Ratings00 Ratings
    SEO
    Comparison of SEO features of Google Ads and Semrush
    Feature
    Google Ads
    -
    Ratings
    Semrush
    8.0
    154 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Keyword analysis00 Ratings8.6154 Ratings
    Backlink management00 Ratings8.4147 Ratings
    SERP ranking tracking00 Ratings8.4150 Ratings
    Page grader00 Ratings7.9129 Ratings
    Competitive analysis00 Ratings8.5149 Ratings
    Site audit / diagnostics00 Ratings8.0150 Ratings
    Site recommendations00 Ratings7.7139 Ratings
    Task management00 Ratings6.491 Ratings
    SEO Channels
    Comparison of SEO Channels features of Google Ads and Semrush
    Feature
    Google Ads
    -
    Ratings
    Semrush
    8.2
    140 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Local SEO00 Ratings8.1128 Ratings
    Social SEO00 Ratings8.0106 Ratings
    Mobile SEO00 Ratings8.5113 Ratings
    Global SEO00 Ratings8.1114 Ratings
    SEO Platform & Account Management
    Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Google Ads and Semrush
    Feature
    Google Ads
    -
    Ratings
    Semrush
    8.4
    125 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Multi-domain support00 Ratings8.1115 Ratings
    Integration with web analytics tools00 Ratings8.7119 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google AdsSemrush
    Small Businesses
    WordStream
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Serpstat
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    WordStream
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Yoast
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Google Trends
    Score8.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google AdsSemrush
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (126 ratings)
    8.2
    (154 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.6
    (21 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    7.7
    (17 ratings)
    8.2
    (10 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    9.9
    (17 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google AdsSemrush
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Ads is a useful advertising tool to build brand exposure and generate lead volumes for your chosen product. Whilst it can be costly at times due to competitor bidding strategies and requires constant monitoring to ensure campaigns perform as expected, it typically provides the desired quality and quantity of leads for custom budgets.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Semrush
    This is suited to plan for keywords in a single market, but it struggles when you need to consolidate several markets. It is well-suited to discover new keywords directly related to the ones being used currently to expand the content the company is creating to get better results.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Automated targeting via Smart Shopping campaign. It's one of the best campaign types in Google Ads. In the beginning, you may see lower revenue and ROAS, but once you give some meaningful time to your campaign, it is most likely to perform well.
    • Smart bidding strategies: Google Ads has developed some really great bidding strategies such as maximizing conversion and maximizing conversion with ROAS settings. Based on one's requirement and their goal with revenue and target ROAS, they can choose the appropriate bidding strategy.
    • Reporting: A business owner and advertising must know about their audiences, how their campaigns have been performing, what's working and what's not, and for that reason, powerful, effective reporting is needed, and Google Ads provides rich details reporting that covers almost every aspect of a business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Semrush
    • Great visuals for keyword position tracking, love that you can see the page that is ranking
    • Enjoyed the auto-generated reporting feature (specifically in the context of keyword position tracking)
    • Shows many different and useful views for competitive research
    • Great templated keyword research tools for those who are not as hands-on with SEO
    • I LOVE the Keyword Magic Tool for honing in on longtail, high-opportunity keywords
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • If you don't know what you're doing, it will be a costly mistake. You need to target ads, and it is difficult the first time to do that.
    • There isn't a feature to run an add for a couple set date spans, just hours you want to run them or a single date span.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Semrush
    • Extra seats can be expensive, as [an] agency with multiple team members this can be frustrating
    • Backlink data is not great, misses out a lot of backlinks (better off using a specialist backlink tool like Link research tools LRT)
    • Tracking multiple keywords, across multiple clients can be costly
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    I think Google Ads is good for getting your company out there and becoming more visible to potential customers in general. However, for specific product launches, social media advertising might be a better fit. Also, our user base is younger so social media is a better channel for our target audience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Semrush
    I [previously] used Semrush for many years and I cannot find any other tool being so complete and easy to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    This is more of a subjective rating, because I think it can be increased with how much our ad spend is. The more of an ad spend, the more visibility we can get, and therefore all features can climb. With an overall larger presence the usability is that where we can get messages out quick, and that's the main thing we try to do with our campaigns.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Semrush
    The interface is a little less intuitive than it could be. The data is often available but filtering and manipulating the data can be a little difficult at times. Expanded comparisons would be helpful since most of the time seeing more than a few competitors at a time allows for a better sense of how to forecast.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Semrush
    Semrush available when you need it!
    Read full review
    Performance
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Semrush
    SemRush performs well with few errors!
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Google
    We have not yet had an account rep who hasn't tried to bully me or other employees to raise our budgets. At the same time, several years ago, one attempted to help refine our ads and ended up changing the ads to be something we were not affiliated with
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Semrush
    I'm in a FB group for Semrush paid users and it amazing! They are fast to respond, take suggestions and help with questions. I have not felt alone in using this product at all. Highly recommend their support team. When I had an issue I can jump into the group and they will help get me the right person to help or even tag their programmers to look at something that is going on. Love the group!
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Google
    Daily use with advanced account structures. Familiarity with reporting/api and complex setups.
    Read full review
    Semrush
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Semrush
    I did it by myself and do not have a comment!
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    Our agency invests heavily in Google Ads (particularly paid search advertising) on behalf of our clients relative to competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo because Google is the top search engine in the world. Google collects the most search data which enables the company to improve its AI to drive better performance for agencies and brands. As such, our paid search and app install campaigns always start with Google. If a client has a large budget, we will allocate media dollars to other search engines, but in some cases, the entire search budget goes to Google because we see the best returns.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Semrush
    We have used both Ahrefs and Semrush extensively at our agency and Semrush remains the tool of choice. We find that Semrush has the largest selection of tools & features to use, with the highest accuracy, and provides top-tier analysis recommendations. It's really is the ultimate all-in-one tool when comparing other performance measurement tools in the digital marketing space.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Semrush
    Semrush is flexible and scalable software which can be deployed across multiple departments and sites as needed.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Google Ads is often one of our highest ROI channels, especially when you factor in branded ads.
    • Depending on the stage your business is in, search ads can be really powerful from an ROI perspective, providing an investment with a very high spend cap.
    • If you do not manage the campaigns well though, you can quickly spend a lot of money on nothing. So make sure someone is keeping an eye on your account.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Semrush
    • Using Semrush on behalf of our clients, we have seen some impressive growth in organic visibility, traffic, conversion and revenue, across multiple industries.
    • The site checks available with Semrush have helped us to pitch and sell our services, securing new clients.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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